The year 2017 was a breakthrough one for Ankur Mittal – the double trap shooter won silver and gold medal in successive ISSF World Cups, at home in Delhi and then in Acapulco. He also bagged gold medals at the Asian Championships and Commonwealth Championships and topped it with silver at the ISSF World Shotgun Championship, becoming the world No 1 in the process.

“It was a year full of surprises; the first World Cup I played I won a medal and I never thought of going to the second World Cup and win another gold medal,” Mittal said in an interaction.

But while he notched accolades after accolade throughout the year, the 25-year-old must also have been painfully aware of how it was probably his penultimate year in a discipline he had given eight years of his youth to. Double trap was discontinued as an Olympic discipline last year and won’t be a medal event at the 2020 Tokyo Games, a move that has prompted most double trap shooters to switch to trap.

Mittal too will be moving full-time to trap, but not before 2018 gives him the chance for a victorious final hurrah. With the Commonwealth Games in April and Asian Games later this year, he will continue in his preferred discipline for one more year, before moving to trap.

The 25-year-old sees both the pros and cons of this switch, and believes that while the transition to trap will be tough, it won’t be a drastic difficulty.

“The change will be difficult because the weapon for trap is different, the technique is also different. But I will start after the Asian Games.

“The American shooters [who don’t have the Commonwealth or Asian Games] have started training only for trap from last year only, as they want to get in the national team for trap as well,” he said.

Not alien to trap

However, Mittal was a junior national champion in trap, and is more than capable of catching up even after switching only later this year. “I had started with trap only and I won the nationals at the junior level. But then I left trap and focussed only on double trap because it is very difficult to cope up with both events.”

“[But] in my mind, I have given eight years and they have cancelled it, so I am very disappointed,” he added.

The shooter had picked up trap following in the footsteps of his father and brother. His father Ashok and elder brother Ajay are both shotgun shooters. While Ajay has won two junior Asian golds, his father still participates in the nationals.

Going for gold

For now, Mittal is focused on the Commonwealth Games and winning a medal in what could be the last edition for shooting and went to Italy with his mental coach and is trying to make sure the pressure doesn’t get to him.

According to Mittal, the Australian weather could turn out to be a decisive factor at the CWG, given double trap is an open-air event.

“The weather will be the main factor in Australia. It will be hot and it might get windy any time. The wind is a major factor in shooting because it is an outdoor event,” he said.

But the 25-year-old has a major advantage as well, that of experience, apart from his terrific form last year. The shooting event will be at the Belmont Shooting Centre in Brisbane which also hosted the Commonwealth Shooting Championship back in November 2017, where he won the gold.

“The windy conditions are sometimes seen in India as well, but it all depends on how the weather will be that day,” he added.

High on confidence

Given Indian shooter’s recent results, shooting will be one of the sports India will be looking to for a rich haul. Mittal is aware of the expectations and hopes he can continue being able to turn on the switch he found after his first World Cup medal in Delhi in February last year that opened up the floodgates.

“It [the Delhi World Cup] was a drastic change for me. Before that, in 2015-16, I was missing everything by one or two points, it was very disappointing. But winning in Delhi was a big relief for me,” he said.

“In 2017, I won my first medal and I thought I can now do it again and again,” he said. And he did repeatedly.

If he can continue the same form and maintain the belief in the coming few months, India can be ensured of a good finish in double trap and Mittal of ending his career in the discipline on a high.